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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Bungy in Queenstown

Afer our adventures in Franz Josef, we drove all the way to Queenstown. It was supposed to be a quick stop...

When we arrive in a town we usually go to the "I-site", the information office which tells you what is to do in the area and then we plan (ish) our day. We just wanted to pass through Queenstown as we heard it was a "party town" and a "big place". It is in fact a "big village", located in the shores of the beautiful lake Waikatipu. There's a good atmosphere and it attracts many thrill seekers thanks to the many outdoors activities you can find here: Skydiving, sledging, rafting, mountain biking, bungee jumping, jet boating and many more. It's a "cool" place, hence why it is popular.

We had been driving for a while and we thought it'd be good to go for a drink and chill before carrying on to Te Anau and Milford Sound. The other (good) reason to stay in Queenstown was for Thomas to get a chance to jump from the Kawarau Bridge where the first bungee jump took place in the late 80's. Yumi already jumped from the highest commercial bungee in the world (216m) in South Africa so she decided to join the Asian crowd and watch the fool leap from the 43m high bridge instead. The "Asian crowd" was a group of people who just came to watch other people jumping. They were cheering and shouting for each jumper which was a bit weird but fun.

There was a "water touch" option and the guy who tied Thomas's ankles said to him he "may" touch the water but because it was the first jump of the day he was not sure and had to "guess" how much rope he should leave.

Nice.

As long as the bungee was too short than too long Thomas was happy.

43m is about 20 storeys high, it doesn't seem to be super high until your ankles are tied together and you have to hop to the edge of the platform. It was a sunny but cold day and Thomas was freezing as he only wore a tshirt (okay, and trousers too) which made his jump really easy: "The quicker you jump the quicker you get to your fleece" he thought.

Although the jump only offered more bouncing than freefall it was really fun and well worth it; Thomas would definitely do it again, but only if it is from much higher :).

2 comments:

Hello the tourisits.... rrrrhhhh :-<< not goodHello the travelers ... :-)) good !!

Your blog is already beautiful and filled of surprises... I didn't know that Yumi have been tested the biggest bungee of the world : 216m is crazy and terrible, I'm scared !!! "Hey Yumi, what is the text ??" "Ah." "Ah ?" ... "AAAAAaaaHHHhhhhh !!!!!?$§!!!"

Beautiful picture of Thomas, like a bird in the sky (with a bridge behind him). And good movie of him !!! In french : "De la-haut je vois ma maisooonnnn !!!! (source : Hot shot movie).